Dr John Ballam

Course Director of the Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing

Biography

John Ballam has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Bristol. He is the author of two collections of poems, six stage plays, four screenplays, two novels (one of which includes 72 short stories) and numerous reviews, articles and academic works. His best-known title is his memoir The Road to Harmony (1999; newest edn. 2013). For ten years he was a member of the American Dramatists’ Guild and Society of Authors, The Alliance of Resident Theatres (New York) and Playwrights’ Platform (Boston).  He has been a script consultant/screenwriter for several major agencies and film producers in Hollywood, London and Mumbai. Since 2004, he has taught English Literature and Creative Writing at over half of the colleges at the University of Oxford. He has been Course Director of the Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing since 2008.

Teaching

Dr Ballam specializes in teaching literature of the modern period as well as creative writing in most genres.

Research interests

Dr Ballam's principal research interests are in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American literature.